Little Red's Crusade
by RobynRyker
Summary: Red Hood has found himself out of commission thanks to his daughter's, Little Red's, enemy The Wolf. With him out of the picture, criminals and gangs have decided his turf is up for grabs. What they didn't expect was Little Red to dedicate her life to protecting what her father worked so hard for.
1. A whole New War

Prologue: A Whole New War

The roof was assaulted with rain, just like the men that had challenged the beast before them. A man appeared from the small group of trigger junkies and smiled slyly at the beast. "I do believe there's a reward for your head, Mr. Hood..." The beast took a step back, discovering the edge of the Wayne Tech building. Its plan had a small flaw now.

"You see... Every bounty hunter is looking for you, and we all know of your condition... So let's just end this quickly shall we?" The eyes of the beast met the ringleader's quickly. The rain seemed to slow down and a deathly silence choked the air around them. The beast could almost hear the racing hearts of the men in front of it. They pounced, but the beast was quick.

The beast took two pistols as its weapon of choice, and shot off two strange bullets. Each one pierced a grunt man non fattily, but hard enough to knock them out of the fight. As the men charged forward, the beast attacked with the second part of the plan.

It leaped backwards off the ledge, flipping back enough to be upright once more. Each pistol was aimed for the men, before setting off deadly gun fire. A few bullets claimed the brains of the men while others claimed the hearts. The quick shots rang out, but faded as the beast began to plummet to the street below.

A glider attached to its suit provided a smoother landing, but when it hit the roof of a taxi it quickly rolled onto the hood to prevent any more damage. The driver yelled out in surprise before looking through his busted windshield. His eyes widened in terror as he recognized the beast in front of him.

"T-The Red Hood?" The driver stuttered with the name that haunted Gotham and its crusaders... But as the beast turned to face the driver he noticed something very much different about this character. "Wait, the Hood isn't a-" the beast took off quickly, allowing the shadows to engulf it before anyone else saw it.

The driver swallowed past a lump in his throat before speaking. "This is a whole new war..." A few hours later a man in a suit stood on the roof. He looked at the dead and saw that the survivors were speaking the truth. He walked over to the ledge and saw police arrive to the scene just before the symbol appeared in the sky. He snarled as he turned to his best men, now laying dead at his feet. "This is a whole new Red Hood..."


	2. Little Red's Crusade

Chapter one: Little Red's Crusade

The room was cold and Jason rested on a shabby bed. Holes infected the floor and termites infested the walls. This place was falling apart, but it was home for Jason Todd at the moment. As the door of his room creaked open he opened his one good eye to see who it was. He sighed at the sight of his daughter wearing his hood.

"Ace I told you not to go out." He snapped. Ace removed the hood to show her blond waves and a pair of blue eyes that matched Jason's. She gave him a cold look as she walked over and set the hood down in a table. "Someone has to do something. The Wolf has made it very clear that your turf is unprotected. And the bounty is higher-" Jason put a bandaged hand on Ace's shaking one. She went quiet as she remembered who did this to her father.

"Aim straight..." Jason said quietly. Ace sighed as she remembered the saying he used in her training. "And you'll never miss." Jason smiled for a moment before wincing. His left eye was damaged along with a lot of the rest of him in a fight with The Wolf. He was Ace's enemy, and he knew exactly where to hit her.

Every since the fight that put Red Hood into hiding, criminals and gangs have been moving in on Hood's turf. Ace figured it was time to act, to protect what her father worked for, but Jason refused to let her. He claimed she wasn't ready to pick a fight with Gotham's caped crusaders. She believed otherwise. The thought of them reminded her what she came in for.

"Dad, I found this at the old hideout." She handed him a letter signed in the elegant handwriting of Bruce Wayne. She knew exactly what it was about, and so did Jason. He shook his head and let her read it out loud. Ace frowned at her father before opening the note.

"Jason, I know you need help. Despite our differences you are still family. Please let me help you recover. It's the least I can do. Send Ace if you change your mind... I can help Jason. You just need to trust me like you did as a boy. From your friend, Bruce."

Jason threw a glass across the room, shattering against the door. Ace flinched and looked at her father, completely worried for him. She knew he wasn't going to accept any help from the man who let him die. His trust for Bruce died with him that day. Jason had a look in his eyes that scared Ace, a look of fear. He looked defeated and torn, and she knew he was getting close to calling it quits.

"I will make sure he never contacts us again, dad." Jason's quickly looked at Ace with a new look of worry. "No don't you dare. I told you not to pick a fight with him. You're not ready-" ace stood up and took the hood. She placed it under her arm as she gave her father a stern look. "You need to remember that before I was here, I was there. They trained me, Bruce and Dick. They were the ones who found me, not you." Jason watched Ace leave the room, feeling nothing but worry and fear. He never knew he'd understand how Bruce felt when it came to a Robin. Now he worried about Red Hood's partner, Little Red.

"I hope Ace follows rule two..."

Three hours later Ace was in full Little Red gear. She watched Wayne Manor carefully, hoping to get an idea of where Bruce might be. She started to wonder if Dick was in town, and silently hoped he was. He seemed to be the only one she was comfortable around when it came to these guys.

At last she heard the familiar roar of the bat mobile as it came back in. She knew Bruce was probably familiar with the crime scene she left a few hours earlier by now. As she went for her pistol she was grabbed from behind. Arms wrapped around her and held her arms tightly to her sides. She quickly slammed her head back, making her captor release her. Just as she aimed her pistol she realized who it was.

"Dick?" He stood there holding his bloody nose, in Nightwing gear. He shook his head a bit as he smiled at her. "I see we didn't need to go far to find our killer this time." Ace quickly reminded Dick of the gun she had as he stepped closer. He raised his hands in surrender. "Woah, easy Ace. We just want to talk."

Ace wanted nothing more than to pull the trigger. She knew that Dick wasn't her problem right now though. She took a deep breath and put the gun down. "Never shoot first..." She mumbled. Dick smiled as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Jason's second rule." He led her to the manor, greeting Alfred as he opened the door. Ace just huffed.

"I'm beginning to think you're immortal." She said as she took her helmet off. Alfred smiled as he took her brown, leather coat. "Master Bruce has me always in my best shape, Miss Todd." Ace nodded, about to speak when a familiar voice cut her off.

"It's good to see you again, Ace..." Bruce spoke from the staircase. He stood there as he fixed his cuff links. "But in this house you are not a Todd. You are a Grayson." Ace rolled her eyes. There was no way she was taking the name she was lured here with. "My father is-"

"-The reason you're here." Bruce walked down to meet them and then noticed Dick holding his nose. He sighed as he looked to Alfred. "Alfred please take Dick to get cleaned up. I didn't realize he was that rusty." Dick huffed as Alfred led him away, mumbling. Bruce looked at Ace again, sighing.

"I don't know why I didn't see it before... I guess I just didn't want to believe-" Ace returned the favor by cutting him off this time. "That your greatest failure was the father of your redemption? I know you didn't. That's why you kept it a secret." She marched off, hood under her arm, to the library. During her time here she found the library was her favorite room. It was easy to find comfort in books, just like in her world.

"Ace we didn't know."

"Dick knew." She snapped. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. She was here for a reason and it was time to get to the point. She sat down in a chair and propped her feet up in a desk. She gave a slick look to Bruce as she remembered her activities this past night.

"I know you have questions. I'm only willing to answer on one condition..." Bruce went over to a small bar to pour himself a drink. "And that would be?" Ace raised an eyebrow at him. She didn't believe he was this stupid. It was obvious why she was here. He sighed and took a sip from his glass.

"Tell me why you killed those people, then we'll talk about Jason." Ace smiled and put the hood on the desk. She gestured towards it and began her reasoning. "What is this?" She started. Bruce pulled up a chair and sat down. "A helmet." Ace slammed her foot down on the desk, glaring at Bruce. "This helmet is a symbol. It isn't the bat, but this symbol holds the same idea... It was meant to strike fear into criminals." Bruce shook his head, a sad look on his face. Jason hooked his claws into Ace deeply.

"Red Hood is a symbol that is feared by the guilty. That symbol is being tarnished now because of The Wolf..." She brought her feet down from the desk to lean forward towards Bruce. "The last thing we need is people thinking Batman is their only problem."

Bruce took another sip of his drink before setting the glass on the table. "Red Hood is a crime lord that has lost territory... You started a war tonight." Bruce looked her dead in the eye this time. He was every bit serious as he spoke. "I just hope you're ready for battle."

Ace smiled and stood up. She grabbed the hood and put it back on, looking at Bruce once again. "I will take back Red Hood's turf. This is my mission, and Little Red's crusade."


End file.
